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<b>About the Rapid Visual Hazard Assessment tool</b>
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	<li>
	<b>Background</b>
	Stuart Moffatt, an Undergraduate Studies major in Disaster Management, 
	prototyped RVHA for a term project in the GEOG3340 Emergency Management 
	course in the Spring 2008 semester.
	In conjunction with a contract extended to the University's Center for
	Public Policy and Analysis from the State of Utah Department of Homeland Security, 
	funds were provided to finish the RVHA
	prototype and release it as a home-owner "public awareness" application
	with the assistance of Dr. Thomas J. Cova, Associate Professor in Geography and the
	Director of the Center for Natural and Technological Hazards.
	<br><br>
	</li>
	
	<li>
	<b>Why RVHA?</b>
	Structural engineers use a technique called Rapid Visual Screening (RVS) 
	to determine if a building requires further study to mitigate seismic risk
	for that building. Stuart Moffatt served as the technical manager for
	the University of Utah 
	<a target="_blank" href="http://www.ehs.utah.edu/DRU.html">Disaster Resistant University</a> 
	(DRU) project from 2006-2008. The DRU project
	studied campus buildings using RVS and other tools to help assess seismic
	risk and produced a mitigation plan to inform campus administrators
	how to reduce risk to life and property. This project also introduced
	novel research to investigate RVS for non-structural elements. It was
	a natural fit to call this application RVHA, suggesting that the 
	conclusions a homeowner may make using this tool should be studied further,
	and mitigation measures for your home and property should be investigated. 
	<br><br>
	</li>
	
	<li>
	<b>Can I get RVHA for my county?</b>
	Currently, this RVHA has only been made for Salt Lake county. However, the source
	code for the entire RVHA application is available via open-source on the
	web site of the 
	<a target="_blank" href="http://emcode.org">Emergency Management Community Open Development Enviroment</a>.
	If you know a Java/GIS developer that wants to get into the innovative
	Google Web Toolkit for creating rich Web 2.0 applications, they can download
	and customize the application for their own jurisdiction. Or, you
	could contact Stuart Moffatt directly at 
	<a href="mailto:stuart.moffatt@emcode.org">stuart.moffatt@emcode.org</a>
	<br><br>
	</li>
		
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